"I do not support the creation of Gorkhaland, but I do support the development of the Gorkha people and their culture and heritage," BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said yesterday participating in a Rathayatra programme.

The BJP does not support GJM’s demand for creation of a separate state, the party’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya made it clear once again. However, Vijayvargiya said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should apologise to the people of the Darjeeling hills for her failure to address their need for development.

“I do not support the creation of Gorkhaland, but I do support the development of the Gorkha people and their culture and heritage,” Vijayvargiya said yesterday participating in a Rathayatra programme.

“The state government has created Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) to address the need for development of the hill people. But, the state government did not meet their expectations,” he had said.

Vijayvargiya also alleged that the Mamata Banerjee government failed to give the hill people financial as well as administrative rights.

“This is why Gorkhas have grudge against the chief minister and as a result they resorted to organising protest movements,” Vijayvargiya had said. State BJP president Dilip Ghosh had said earlier that the creation of states on the basis of ethnicity and language would divide the country into pieces.

“We did not raise any objection when it came to the creation of states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. But we can never support the demand to turn a village or municipal corporation into a state,” he said.

“We do not support the demand for creation of a state on the basis on ethnicity or language of the people. If such things happen, then the country will be divided into pieces,” Ghosh had said.